The Goonies and Curse of the Wolf
by NickTheWriter
Summary: Its a year after the Goonies have found the treasure of One-Eyed Willy. Now their town is safe, they face a new adventure. This time, its a little more supernatural than usual.
1. Chapter 1

"Chunk, would ya leave some for the rest of us?" came Brand's already irritated voice. Chunk had in one hand a big 'ol bag of cheese flavoured chips, and in the other a can of Pepsi.

"Sorry, Brand." Chunk replied in an effort to appease Mikey's quick-tempered older brother, Brandon 'Brand' Walsh. He set aside the now half-empty packet of chips, and went about licking his fingers clean. He washed it down by finishing off his Pepsi. He then scrunched his fist around the can and tossed it into the bag the group had designated for rubbish. With that routine out of the way, Chunk spun around to face the rest of his friends.

The Goonies had been planning this trip for about a month, which brings us to the current month of August. School was planned to start back soon, so the group used their last free weekend to go camping in what was known as the Forest of Fears. It was dubbed so due to alleged claims of it being haunted by your worst nightmares- werewolves, witches, ghosts, you name it. Of course, most didn't really believe the stories, but being the Goonies, they couldn't resist what could possibly be their most spooky adventure yet. It had been a year since the One-Eyed Willy escapade, and since then, they all knew that they wanted to see as much of Astoria as they possibly could. It was understandable why.

The group of friends were sat around an air-quenching fire, laughing and enjoying the banter between one another. Brand grabbed the chip bag from Chunk and passed it around to everyone to share. Data was using some contraption of his which involved a metal, mechanically rotating stick with a marshmallow jabbed on the end. Everyone else was using plain wooden sticks to roast theirs. Brand was sat next to Andy, who was sat next to Stef. Beside Stef was Chunk, then Mouth, and Mikey, which sat Data between Mikey and Brand. Behind them was an eight-man tent that Mouth had borrowed from his home. It was from when his cousins would come over from Idaho and they would all go camping together during the Summer months. Mouth was an only child with both parents and two cousins. The eight-man was for three other Goonies, who almost always tagged along.

The night rolled on, and once or twice Data checked the watch on his right wrist to confirm the time. At around 11:30 p.m. Brand stood up to go take a leak, and when he got back he noticed the drowsiness settling in on the group. He called it for the night and suggested they all go to bed. Nobody had any complaints. The tent had one side smaller than the other, so the girls took that side as there was only two of them. The guys took the other end, and began spreading out their sleeping bags. Brand was situated nearest the opening, with Mikey snuggled up beside him. Data lay next to Mikey, followed by Mouth, and then Chunk.

"Hey, Chunk?" began Mouth.

"Yeah?" replied Chunk.

"You better not let one rip while your lying next to me, or you'll be outside warding off the bears with a truffle shuffle."

"Ha-ha, Mouth, hilarious!" Chunk spat out sarcastically.

"Guys?" cut in Brand.

"Yeah?" both Chunk and Mouth replied in unison.

"Shut up."

That did the job. Nobody opened their mouths to speak. One- they were too tired to care about anything, and two- Brand had sounded like he was getting a bit annoyed.

About half an hour had passed, and everybody was beginning to drift off. The only sounds to be heard were the lonesome gait of the wind, and the crickets cheerful cricking. Data was one of the last to start drifting off, and then he heard it- a light thudding outside of the tent. It was only a single muffle, so he let it go. And then there it was again. It was louder this time. Not a muffle and more like a hushed plod.

"Hey, guys?" he whispered into the darkness. At first, nobody replied. So he tried once more, a tad bit louder this time.

"Guys? Did anybody here that?" This time there was a light shuffle, indicating someone sturring from their position.

"S probably jus' a bird, Datuh. Go bck to sleep." He couldn't be certain, but that sounded like Mikey. Not to mention it came from nearby, and Mikey was right next to him.

He tried closing his eyes and drowing out the outside noises. But there it was again- something was walking around out there. Data was hoping that because it hadn't come up to the tent yet, it didn't know they were there.

"I'm not kidding, you guys. Something's out there!" He kept his voice as low as he possibly could that would allow the others to hear him. It worked- somewhat. It was Brand who now spoke up.

"If you're so certain then why don't you go out and check?" Brand's voice was swaddled on account of his face being smushed into his pillow.

Data didn't want to go out there. In fact, Data was certain he really, _really _didn't want to go out there. But Data also didn't want to face the humiliation in the morning of being called a cissy. He was the one with all the gadgets and inventions. With those at his disposal, what would he ever have to be afraid of? Besides, they were probably right and it was just a bird. At least if he checked now, he could prove he could be brave. And the only one to suffer for it would be the poor bird he startled in the middle of the night. It had seemed he had made up his mind. With haste- and a little rush from fear- Data grabbed his flashlight which he had kept on him for emergencies just as this, and made to get up. He slyed his feet over both Mikey and Brand with ease, and began to unzip the tent opening. Brand turned his head a little, noticed it was just Data, and slid his face back into his pillow, letting out a wry sigh as he did so.

Data's black hair merged with the night sky as he stepped out onto the cold dirt. He bundled up his trench coat tighter around his body, which had already begun to shiver from the wintry moist air. He switched on his flashlight, fumbling with it a little- he put that down to both nerves and the cold weather. He eventually caught the switch, and the light blared suddenly in an extroverted manner. He thought to himself quickly how glad he was he had only changed the batteries recently. Bringing himself back to the present, he remembered why he was out here. There was no noise now, which only made the boy more suspicous. In his self-driven worry, he began swinging the light around wildly, but no being caught itself in its gaze. Data let out a soft breath of relief, which made itself known in the form of an foggy cloud. He turned, and poked his head back inside the tent, throwing in the flashlight first so he could use both arms to balance himself as the brought the rest of his body with him. And that's when it became blurred.

Data was caught in utter surprise and terror when he was dragged back out of the tent. He felt something sharp dig its way into his left foot, and his body toppled forward to the ground. He let out a scream, desperate for someone to rescue him. Through all of his racing thoughts, he briefly recalled his bully blinders- he doubted severly that they would work now. Simply because the batteries were all out. He resorted to thrashing about, hoping wildly that the action would loosen his victimised appendage and set him free. Soon realising this was not working, he began screaming again. And again. And again. And his efforts finally paid off.

Brand was the first to scramble out of the tent. Andy and Stef were behind him, and then the whole Goonine gang had their eyes locked on the scene before them.

"Data!" Mikey cried out in distress as he caught a look as his friend's foot jammed in the maws of a beast.

Data with his face in the dirt couldn't get a good luck at his attacker, but the others had a better view. It was a beast of some kind, but they weren't focusing on what kind in that moment. The beast locked its eyes on the group, and decided it was no match for that many humans. Its grip lackened and Data's foot flopped harshly to the ground, crimson blood gushing from the wound. Between the blood loss and the shock, it was unsurprising when his vision began to fail. Everything went black, and his face hit the ground with a jarring thud. Lights out.

Mikey, Mouth and Chunk shoved their way past the others, who then quickly followed suit. Mikey arrived first, skidding to his knees as he landed by the side of his unmoving friend. Out of breath, he began murmuring Data's name as he passed his hands frantically around, unsure of what to do.

"Data!" Andy, Brand and Stef were yelling his name, purely out of overwrought concern. By now every one of them had crowded around their fallen friend, and yelling over one another about if he was still alive and what they should do. Brand decided then to take charge of the situation.

"Shut up! Look, he's still breathing. I think he's just unconscious." This allowed some relief to flood in, but they couldn't bare to look at him lying like that- so still and so empty of life. Or he would be if they didn't do something soon.

"Hey Chunk, your dad's a doctor, right?" Asked Stef. Brand caught on to the idea.

"Come one! Lets get him back to the car." Brand was glad in that moment that he had passed his driving test. The group gathered up their gear as quickly as possible, and packed it all in the boot of Brand's car, while Mikey and Brand were setting Data down in the back seat, careful not to jar his injured foot into a worse condition than it already was. With Mikey seated next to Data, the rest of the Goonie gang piled in, and soon they were racing to Chunk's house, the full moon watching every minute of it.


	2. Chapter 2

Brand, with his foot glued to the accelerator, reached Chunk's house in no time at all. Which was ideal for the situation they were currently in. He briefly glanced the rear view mirror to get a look at the patient in the back.

"How's he doing Mikey?"

The youngest Walsh boy chanced a look up briefly when he heard his name, and then turned to Data, who was still sat unconscious next to him.

"He's still asleep, but I think he's breathing better." Mikey realised his own hands were shaking as he said this. Andy reached over and placed a hand on Data's shoulder gently.

"Come on Data, you can pull through this." Her voice was soft, but urging. They were _all _urging- for Data to wake up. For Data to say something. For Data to be ok. And the fact that he might not be scared them. As far as they could tell, only his foot had been injured. But there had been cases heard of where someone _looked _fine, for the most part, but ended up being the complete opposite of fine. Dear god did they hope this wouldn't be one of those cases.

Perhaps it was God, perhaps it was something else entirely, they didn't care. Something out there granted them luck. The small boy next to Mikey Walsh stirred, and whimpered quietly, and managed to pry open his eyes a smidge. But a smidge was enough- in fact it was more than enough. Mikey forgot his etiquette for a moment as he yelled out.

"Data! Data's awake! Data's awake!"

Data winced at the offending noise. He didn't know what was going on, only that his sense of hearing was now being mauled by loud cheers and cries of joy. What the heck was going on?

"Data!" cried Andy.

"How are you feeling?" questioned Stef.

"You want something to eat?" offered Chunk.

Mouth and Brand remained silent but kept their eyes on him- and they were eyes filled to the brim with worry and concern but also relief and joy.

"Guys?" came Data's low and somewhat husk voice. The question was almost an interogation. He couldn't remember what had happened, only that his foot was stinging like crazy, and all of his friends were crowded around him in Brand's car. Looking out the window he saw they were now pulling up outside of Chunk's house.

"Guys?" he asked again, "What's going on?"

The others shared brief glances at one another, trying to decide who should be the one to explain. Brand, feeling guilty for the whole mess they were in, decided he would do it.

"Look Data, I'm sorry. I should have gone out there, not you. I didn't know there was a beast out there, I thought you were just joking about-"

"Beast? What beast?" Data was getting worried now. And so were the others, by the looks of it. Did he really not remember the attack that almost cost him his foot?

But then the memories began to trail in. He remembered being dragged out of his tent. The rest was a little blurry, but he could recall the others stampeding out of the tent, and there were screams. Theirs or his? He couldn't remember. And then he hit his head, and it all went black. The others could see it in his face now as he let out just one single

"Oh..."

Brand dragged them away from that for the moment as he stopped the car with a jolt. He got out, and ran around to Mikey and Data's side, opening the car door with expedition. Everyone squeezed out and allowed room for Mikey and Brand to help Data out. Mikey took Data's arm and slung it around his own shoulder, easing the burden of walking for the time being. Chunk ran up his driveway and started calling out for his father.

"Dad! Dad, hurry! Daaad!"

Walter Cohen almost crashed through his front door onto the porch, he reached it with so much speed. He had fallen asleep in front of the television set, as he often did on Friday nights, when he was dragged from his sleep by what sounded like his son calling out to him. When he remembered that they were supposed to be out camping the panic began to set in. There was only one reason they'd come to him- someone was hurt.

As he stepped out onto the porch, grey dressing gown waltzing in the wind, he scanned each of them, until his eyes landed on Mikey Walsh who had the arm of Richard Wang hung around his shoulder. The boy appeared to be limping, favouring his right foot over his left. It was dark, but he thought he could make out a substance glazing the unfavoured appendage- blood immediately came to mind.

"Dad!" Chunk cried out again, "Dad! Its Data! There-there was this beast a-an-and it attac- it attacked Data an-and-"

"Easy, Lawrence!" Walter interjected his son from his ramblings, "Take it easy, and explain, _slowly, _what happened?"

As Chunk began explaining what had transpired in the Forest of Fears, Walter Cohen led the group inside and brought out a stool for Data to rest his injured foot upon. He then proceeded to remove the chomped up remains of Data's left shoe. The sight was far from pretty. The Goonies flinched at the sight. His foot looked as if a bear had tried using it as a tooth pick. The bite mark went all the way through to the bottom, and there was blood oozing everywhere- so much so that Mouth had to go and get paper towels and newspaper to keep it from staining the floor. Walter filled up a basin with water to rinse off the blood, and then he used rubbing alcohol to cleanse the wound. Finally, he wrapped a bandage around the entire foot, and got Chunk to fetch a clean pair of socks.

"Alright Richard," began Walter gently, "I want you to bend your toes for me, ok?"

Data complied as asked, although he had a little difficulty in doing so. His toes would bend, but not all the way. Miraculously, none of the nerves in his foot had ben severed, but some may possibly have been damaged slightly.

"Good, Richard. That's very good," Walter started, and then sighed an exhausted sigh, adjusting his glasses a little also, "Alright kids, I think that's about as much as I can do for now. It'll need stiches, but we can take care of that tomorrow. Why don't you kids set up your sleeping bags and stay the night?"

By the time 1:30 a.m. had rolled around, every person in the house had fallen asleep, safe from any beasts for the time being. Silence settled in first, until it was accompanied by the soft sounds of gentle breathing. Nobody stirred until morning.

When the morning _did _come about, the sky began eminating an exuberant orange glow. The birds joggled the slumber from their ruffled feathers and went about sightseeing in an effort to locate the best worms. Some dog somewhere was barking at a rooster that had cawed it from its sleep. It was around an hour later when the effects of sleep began wearing off, and one by one, the Goonies stirred from their slumber. Mouth tried desperately to hold onto it for as long as he could, but between the morning rays beaming through the window, and the shuffles of the others to the bathroom and back ultimately stole that leisure from him. He too decided to visit the bathroom, then.

As Mikey returned from his trip to the toilet, he sat down on the floor next to Brand, who pulled him into an embrace, ruffling his hair vigorously. Mikey laughed a little, and eventually managed to pull free. He punched Brand on the shoulder but to Brand it felt like more of a tap, and he let a smile dance across his lips. Mouth got up to use the bathroom and passed Chunk, who was returning. Chunk, however, must have been in the kitchen because when he came back into the room he had a spoon shoved in his gob and a bowl that was overpiled with cereal. There was a stream of milk dribbling from his mouth to chin. He settled down on one of the armchairs- most likely the same one his dad had fallen asleep in last night before being interrupted by them. Brand stole a glance at Data, who had gone to sleep on the couch last night, but wound up on the floor at some point- Brand guessed it was caused by a fitful night's sleep. The boy was still asleep, drool slying from his hung mouth. Pity tugged his heartstrings, and Brand lifted the boy back up onto the couch to let him sleep some more. As he sat back down, Brand began wondering when the other Goonies began becoming brothers to him.

"Hey Brand?" Mikey startled him from his thoughts, barely registering Mouth's return.

"Yeah, Mikey?"

"Do you... well, do you believe the stories? You know, the ones about the Forest of Fears?" This garnered quizzical looks from Chunk and Mouth. They, however, were not looking at Mikey, but at Brand, as if they were genuinely curious too, now that Mikey had mentioned it. Brand sighed at this, but not out of frustration.

"I believe a lot of things Mikey," he began, "but I don't believe in silly stories. And that's all they are, got it? Just silly stories." He was beginning to wonder if, from the way he was talking, he was trying to convince himself more so than the others. All the same, the others nodded their understanding.

He couldn't blame them for being curious, though. That thing that attacked Data last night sure looked like some sort of fairytale monster. Granted, it was dark last night. All the same though, no creature they had ever seen before had been that large, or had blue eyes that glowed incredulously. The rest had been hard to make out. There were no distinct features they had been able to make out because they blended into the shadows. They could only tell how big it seemed because it didn't blend perfectly. They were just about able to tell a silhouette from a shadow. Also, they guessed that from the position of the eyes, that's how tall the head had been from the ground.

Data began stirring from his sleep, which in turn stirred everyone else from their melancholic thoughts. As he was waking up, Andy and Stef came in from the spare bedroom they had slept in. They joined the others on the floor.

"Good morning." Stef droned out in a washed out voice. The others mumbled something back along the same lines.

Data, having been distracted from his slumber, opened one sleepy eye. The rest of his body felt numb from tiredness. He sigh-yawned, and lifted his head up slightly. His hair sprung out into a wild black mane. He pushed himself up, and went to stand up, forgetting about his injured foot. As he put pressure on it, his left leg buckled a bit. Brand rushed to get up and help, but Data just waved him off, readjusted himself, and limped groggily to the bathroom, returning a minute later. The essence of drool had been wiped from his chin, they noticed.

From there on, the morning had been pretty uneventful. Chunk's father came in at some point, and stiched up the wound on Data's foot, and then rebandaged it. Mikey suggested that they all come over to his and Brand's house later that evening to have a movie night, to make up for the camping trip catastrophe the night before. They all agreed, and Brand offered to drive them all home. Data thanked Mr. Cohen on his way out, and soon they were all headed for home.

It was around 7 that evening when the Goonies arrived at the Walsh residence, ditching their bikes viciously as they neared the house. Data was the only exception to this is his house was neighbouring Mikey's. Though he doubted he'd have been able to pedal a bike with how his foot was feeling in its current state, anyway. As Mikey and Mouth were going through movies to choose from, Chunk was on the phone ordering three large pizzas, each piled with extravegant toppings from the sounds of it.

The pizzas took about half an hour to arrive. Brand used the money his parents had given him while they were out for dinner and a business meeting that night on the other side of Astoria. Once the pizzas had come, Mikey went about turning on the movie. It was some old pirate movie, and Chunk made a remark- something all the lines of 'I've seen this before somewhere'. The pirate ship in the movie had a lot of similar features to Willy's ship, the Inferno, and the pirate's action sequence reminded them all of when Sloth and Chunk had saved them from the Fratellis. Eventually they all quietened down, and settled into the movie.

It was around the mid-way mark, or just over it a little, when Data began feeling cramps in his muscles. He ingored it at first, it most likely was a repercussion from the night before- from when that thing attacked him. But it was becoming increasingly difficult to ingore. A gong went off in his head suddenly, and he pawed at it in agony. Mikey was sitting next to him, and this caught his attention.

"Data? You ok?" Brand heard this and stole a glance at the boy in question.

"Yeah, I think s-" Data tried to reply, but the muscle cramps hit him like a brick out of nowhere.

"Grah!" he cried out in agony, clutching and pawing at his stomach and chest.

"Data, what's wr-" Brand was cut off.

"Holy McKenzie..." Mikey murmured under his breath at the sight- it was both awesome and terrifying.

As Data lifted his head to look at them questioningly, his brown eyes flashed yellow- they stayed that way.

The other Goonies rose from the couch and started to back away slowly, not really sure if they should run _away _from Data, or run _to _him. They decided to choose the latter. Running forward, Data let out a howlish growl, and stumbled backwards, knocking over the lamp on the coffe stand behind him. This startled him, and allowed an opening for the wolf. The poor boy had been resisting, but now was its chance to take control.

The others stayed silent, watching as their best friend, growling painfully the whole time, shifted. Black fur began sprouting over his skin, and his teeth lengthened and sharpened into daggers, while his nails cracked out into talon-like claws. A tail bone tore through the flesh on his lower back, and Data screamed in agony. Flesh and fur meshed itself over the bone, and he now had a tail. The transformation was complete when Data stood, hunched over as if ready to sprint on all fours. His tail swayed behind him, and he stood about 5 inches taller than Brand. He threw back his massive head, and howled into the night, before whatever was left of his human mind realised what he was. It was the last bit of control he had before giving in to the inner beast. Lower himself on to all fours, he leaped the entire couch, and broke through the door. He turned one last time to stare into the eyes of those he called family, before taking off once again, disappearing into the night.

"Data, wait!" cried Mikey, but Brand grabbed his shoulder to stop him, not once letting his eyes leaving the broken doorframe where there friend had just been.

Mouth managed to pull himself from the shock he found himself fixed in, and without letting his eyes leave that spot either, made the remark.

"So Brand, still don't believe those silly stories?" This earned him a palm-smack on the back of his head.


	3. Chapter 3

_His senses were bursting with newfound vibrance. The salty scent of Astoria's coast hit his nose in waves; the crashing waters frothing dangerously roared against his ears. He could see clearer now than ever before, lights in the distant horizon burning gently, flickering through windows as family's sat down for a late evening meal together. This triggered a need- no, more like a longing- for thought of his own family. All he got though were distortions, like an old film reel which had long ago reached old age. The more he pushed the memories to surface, the more they resisted. The more frustrated he became. He flung his head upwards as he ran through the night, the echoes of a haunting howl gliding through the crisp night air. The last of Summer rain fell that night. _

"Can't you keep up, Chunk?", cried Stef as she ran, her arms lifted above her head to protect her from the rain. The moonlight glinted in each rain drop as they fell delicately from the sky- it sure was a beautiful night. Too bad it was juxtaposed by a more serious matter- finding Data-turned-werewolf.

"Hey! I'm trying my best here." Came Chunk's reply, almost drowned out by both the strenuous rain, and Chunk's own labored breathing. He took out a Baby Ruth he had stashed in his coat pocket, and began stuffing it in his mouth. He was hungry, and thought it would give him more energy. The others really didn't care to argue at the moment.

The other Goonies had followed after Data, once the initial shock had worn off.

"I can't believe Data's a werewolf..." Mikey had said slowly, as if it might go away if he slowed down the words. Of course, it didn't.

"Yeah, well you better get used to it, Wimp," began Brand, "coz there's a werewolf out there, possibly killer, and its name is Data."

Andy joined in, then.

"And its up to us to stop him."

Brand didn't know how long it took him to realize, only that he did realize. What they were doing was completely pointless. They were running through the rain, in the dark, with only one flashlight and no batteries, should the current ones run out of juice.

"Guys, stop! Everybody stop!" He finally decided to call it. Every other Goony turned to face him- they were only going by sound direction and height to guess they were facing Brand. He didn't need to see their faces to know that they were looking at him dubiously- and, he supposed, he didn't blame them.

"This is stupid," he began, "If Data's mind is inside that thing, he wouldn't want us to find him the way he is. There's a reason he ran away from us. And if its not Data's mind- if it's the... wolf," he said the word as if it was his first time pronouncing it, "then it probably doesn't remember us. Either way, he wouldn't want us to find him. If it was me I know I wouldn't wanna be found."

"But Brand!" Interjected Mikey, "Its not you, its Data-"

"Enough Mikey. You know I'm right. We'll go out again in the morning."

Mikey ducked his head and let out an inaudible sigh. Yeah, Brand may not have been right about everything. But Brand knew Data just as well as Mikey did- and Mikey knew Brand was right, now. He didn't argue anymore. Neither did the others. They trudged back to Mikey and Brand's through the rain, utterly defeated. They ignored the jagged howl mourning throughout the night.

Mikey's lip creased in deep, melancholic contemplation as he observed the rainbow splitting through the morning sky. The rain had become a drizzle now, and as Mikey watched the ribbon of many colours, he had a thought- why do people smile when they see a rainbow, when it looks like a frown?

"Here, Mikey."

Mikey felt something jerk his thigh suddenly, and breaking his previous train of thought, he looked down to see his inhaler lying across his lap. He looked up to see that Brand had thrown it. He thanked him quickly, and got up from where he was sitting- the armchair by the window, which gave you a look out at the porch, and most of Astoria. You could also see Data's house. Mikey shook that last thought from his head, and began packing his own bag, as everybody else was currently doing. Now that morning had, come they had better chances of finding their friend. Truthfully, nobody had gotten much sleep that night.

Brand checked that everybody was ready and accounted for. Everybody was all set to go, and so they headed out. They didn't have any intentions of coming back without Data.

They had expected to be walking for hours before finding any signs of Data's presence from last night. But, they found they were happily wrong. Mikey thanked God that it had rained that night. Without that rain they may well have spent hours. But as they stood staring down at the humongous paw prints imprinted into the sodden muck, they remembered just how large Data's beast had been. But, they thought, if the stories about werewolf transformations occurring on a full moon were true, then Data should be in human form somewhere.

As they began following the tracks, Mouth in true Mouth fashion, felt the need to initiate a conversation.

"Hey!" he began, "If Data's a werewolf now, he can scare the shit out of Troy!" His laughter echoed throughout the empty field they were sludging through. Nobody else was laughing. In fact, nobody else thought it was even remotely funny. Not at that moment, anyway.

"Mouth," Mikey started up, "That's not funny. Data could be in danger somewhere! Or he could be hurt! Or worse..." he began trailing off, before Brand caught him in another embrace of hair ruffles. This time, though, it was meant in a comforting manner. It worked, if only a little.

"Don't worry, Wimp, I'm sure he's fine. It's Data, he knows how to take care of himself." Brand wasn't entirely sure if this was true, but he figured with all those inventions, he should be fine. Especially considering that when Data changed last night, his clothes- which contained said inventions- had miraculously stayed in place. That didn't mean they weren't currently hanging in tatters around the boy's small frame, though. And that was partly due thanks to the fact that Data wore more loose clothes than fit his body size. Brand caught himself laughing a little at this.

'_Ughh...' he moaned both internally and externally, 'did my chest land on my bully blinders again? Or the boxing glove?'. But surprisingly, the thought of a precious invention being damaged didn't concern him all that much in the current moment he found himself in. His body was aching and creaking all over, and as he pried his eyes open, he shut them just as quick. The light was harsh, but he let his eyes adjust, and once he could open them fully, he took a pained look around. He was lying on his back, in what felt like a puddle. From the squidgy mud around him, he guessed it had rained last night. Furthering his curious gaze, he took note of forest surrounding him on both sides. _

'_Wait...what am I doing out here?' _

_Flashes of memory flooded back in. He was at Mikey's house, and they were watching a movie and eating pizza. He remembered the smell of the pizza, and how hungry he had begun feeling. And then there was pain. Intense, burning pain. Something about a wolf. Nothing. Nothing after that. But those memories that remained, those memories seared through his brain, and he doubted now he would ever be able to forget them. _

_And then he noticed the weight on his face. He looked down, more towards his own body, and caught a glimpse of something- something blurry. His body still felt a little numb, and his eyes were taking a while to focus. They were getting there, when he heard it suddenly. _

"Data! Oh my God, Data!"

"Data, you're alive!"

The fumbling voices were crisp and clear, becoming clearer. He tilted his head just a little, before deciding to stop and turn back- the pain burned when he tried to move. Man, was his neck stiff!

The rushing source of voices quickened pace, and in no time flat, the other Goonies had piled around the small boy, who now looked quite a mess- but a sight for sore eyes all the same. They noticed one third of a deer leg caught partially between Data's teeth and chin.

"Wow, you're looking good Data." Mouth, unable to hold back with the sarcasm, earned a fair whack to his arm by Brand. Mouth winced harshly and grabbed the offended limb instinctively.

"You, uh," Andy began, "You got something, Data, right there..." she pointed awkwardly around her own mouth and chin. Data got the message.

He brought his hand up and felt around, only to land his fingers upon the deer leg. Removing it, he looked at what it was, and recoiled in shock.

"Guah!" He pushed himself up a little, and fumbled backwards, still sitting on the ground, throwing the deer leg as far away as possible. He didn't want to know where the rest of the deer was. In instinct, he began spitting and spewing, attempting to remove any and all deer corpse from his mouth. The others would have laughed at this, had they not been so concerned with attempting to approach the boy with caution. They weren't exactly sure why they were approaching with caution- maybe it was the fact that Data was drenched in blood, maybe it was in fear of him turning into a wolf again, or maybe it was both. Yeah, they then figured, it probably was both, but they were never going to tell Data that. It was one thing to offend a human, but a werewolf, they were now guessing, was a whole different story.

Brand exhaled loudly, both out of relief and weariness. He had no energy left, he decided, to be dealing with his concerns. Clearly, the stories were true- werewolves transform during a full moon, and turn back again once morning came. And, looking around, it was clearly morning, and Data was clearly human- or so he looked like anyway, Brand corrected himself.

"Come on, Data," Brand said, "Let's get you back home."

They proceeded, then, to take the boy back to Mikey's house. His foot was still injured, so the trip took a little longer than they had initially expected. Nobody spoke about what had happened- everyone was silent. And they really didn't want to talk about the meat-eating thing. Just because they had found Data in a forest- not the Forest of Fears- with a deer leg drooping out of his mouth, didn't mean he hadn't, well- they didn't like to think, but- killed a person. There was no evidence of it. They supposed they would find out later on if any missing or murdered people were reported. And for both their own good and Data's, they severely hoped there wouldn't be. Brand hated to think how Data would cope with himself knowing he had killed someone. He forced the thought out of his head for now, and looked up. His house wasn't far now. He navigated left, and indicated to the group that they would take Data to his house to change clothes- his original ones were barely hanging on as it was. Once there, Data hurried upstairs, freshened himself up a little, and limp-sprinted back down. He was glad both his parents worked during the day- it would have been a little awkward trying to explain to them how their son had to change clothes on account of them getting shredded during a werewolf transformation. He bounded back out the door, but the others were standing around looking a little uncomfortable. Oh no, Data thought to himself, I think I know where this is going.

"Data," began Andy, "We need to talk. About, well, about last night."

Yep, Data thought, it was definitely going where he thought it was going. He slumped his shoulders in defeat. Well, he thought, it would be better to just get it over and done with. He didn't really remember much of last night, and he wasn't sure he wanted to either, but he also had to admit that he was curious what had happened.

"Do you remember anything, Data?" Asked Mikey.

"All I remember," Data began, "is the pain. And waking up in the middle of a forest."

The other Goonies each shared a look amongst each other, a little unsure of how to proceed in telling the boy that he had turned into a giant, deer-eating, howling werewolf. While the others were contemplating this, Mouth took it upon himself to set it straight. In his mind, there was no point in being anything else but honest.

"Well, my friend," Mouth began, and the others had no time to stop him when he began again, "You pretty much turned into a giant wolf and, if I'm not mistaken, ate a week's worth of deer meat."

Data stared at him, partially horrified, partially wonderstruck. Brand came up behind Mouth, and gave him another right-hook to the back of his head. Not enough to harm him, but certainly enough to smart. But, Data took note almost immediately, Brand never defied Mouth's accusation. Was it really true? Did he really transform into a werewolf?

"It's true, Data," Mikey chimed in somberly, "You're a... a werewolf."

Data wanted to disbelieve. He really, really did. He even tried to. But something- some voice- at the back of his head kept persuading him otherwise. He mulled over it silently for a moment, and then faded in.

"Did... did I," the words were struggling to come out of his mouth, but Brand knew what he was trying to ask, and allowed him not to finish that difficult sentence.

"No, you didn't. At least, not that we know of. Nothing's been reported yet."

Data just nodded his head a bit, and trained his eyes to the ground. Nobody spoke for a moment, and then Brand once more spoke up.

"Come on, let's go to the library."

"Brand?" Said Chunk.

"We need to research this. We already knew from fiction about full moons, and that turned out to be true. Maybe we can find out more at the library."

Nobody disagreed, and so they hopped into Brand's car, and headed to the Astoria Local Library. The radio had been tuned in to any news channels they could find- no reports of missing or dead.

It didn't take long for them to find the section they were looking for- a minute section of the library had been dedicated to all sorts of mythology. Thankfully, werewolves had been a more common topic, and so they managed to scrounge together about 6 or 7 small books between them. They must have sat for hours that day, researching and looking up vast amounts of facts on werewolves. And yet only one book mentioned anything about a cure. Mikey had barely begun reading the paragraph on a cure, when the library began to shut up. Mikey checked out the book, and the group retired back to their own respective households. Nothing had been reported that day, and yet still poor Data never got a wink of sleep that night- how could he, when terrible images plagued his dreams- no, not dreams. Nightmares.


End file.
